ZM web girl Trin: how I lost 20kgs in 6 months

Okay, so this is really weird. I'm used to writing articles about celebs and viral internet trends, not myself. 

But at the start of this all, before I managed to lose an inch of weight, I was telling myself for months that I could never do it.

But I did! And now I want to motivate those who are also telling themselves they can't do it. Because you definitely can. 

Before I get into how I lost 20 kilos in 6 months, I want to first say that everyone is different.

What worked for me may not work for you. I'm not a doctor or health expert or anything, so it's best to consult a health professional if you are wanting to make drastic changes to your diet/exercise. 

Let's break my weight loss down into four different sections so that I don't waffle on, yeah?

MOTIVATION 

Firstly, I broke up with my boyfriend and the thought of dating again and potentially having to get naked in front of another guy made me sick. 

Whilst this may have been my starting motivation, that soon changed as I lost weight. 

I realised quickly that my motivation for continuing my weight loss came from how good exercise and eating healthy made me feel, not about how I looked. 

The buzz I felt after giving 100% to a run or a workout then motivated me to do it all over again the next day. 

Motivation will be a struggle at the start, but once you get over that hump it will be a breeze! Soon, exercise and eating healthy will just be a part of your daily routine, like brushing your teeth or having a shower.

EXERCISE

My main form of exercise on my weight loss journey (ugh hate that word 'journey' but we'll just roll with it) was running. 

Now I actually hated running before I started. But I slowly just started building up the distances of my runs and found that I would be shocked/proud that I could run an extra km compared to the day before. 

What really helped my running though was signing up for a half marathon. Running long distance is such a mental thing and I found that if I trained my mind to allow myself to go further, my body would just follow too. 

For the first 3-4 months of my weight loss I was running 5-6 times a week. 

Now that I have lost most of the extra fat I had, I have now cut down on the running, replacing it with body strength and toning exercises in order to tone the bod. 

DIET

Eating healthy is something I've never been great at. My friends will know that pretty much my whole life I've eaten whatever I wanted when I wanted. But 2 years ago that caught up with me and now I have to say no to the lollies, chocolate, pizza and V (well most the time).

Before going into this I knew I would never be able to be completely disciplined with my diet and that's ok - it's all about balance. 

My discipline was tested to the max working at ZM, as we get sent a fair bit of free (and usually always unhealthy) food. But I learnt to just say no most the time, not all the time. Allow yourself a treat! And don't feel guilty after!

If you are having cravings, what really helps is making yourself busy. If I felt like an ice cream from the dairy but instead started writing an article, I'd find that I'd quickly forget about that treat I thought I needed. 

MENTAL HEALTH

Let's be honest, I wanted to lose weight in order to look good. But soon I found that it was about much more than the aesthetics. 

The benefit of all of this on my mental health has been massive. This hasn't just come from the confidence I gained, it's come from feeling proud of myself for putting my body and my health first. 

I'm not going to lie, it's not always going to be easy. Some days you're going to feel like you're not getting anywhere, but that feeling will pass. 

Here's my before and after (well one of them, no way in hell will I be posting the almost naked ones):

Best of luck with your weight loss/health/fitness journey (that yuck word again) - you CAN do it. Trust me.